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Coach of the year: Alexander's Seaman girls still looking for more

Veteran Vikings coach honored after 19-4 season

Coach Steve Alexander of Seaman, the 2014 Capital-Journal All-City coach of the year, saw his Vikings post a 19-4 record this season, go 12-1 in Centennial League play and advance to the Class 5A state tournament.

Steve Alexander's Seaman girls basketball team has things rolling.

The Vikings posted a 19-4 record this season, went 12-1 in Centennial League play and advanced to the Class 5A state tournament. In the past two seasons Seaman is 37-8.

But Alexander, who recently completed his 21st season as the Vikings' head coach, said everybody in the Seaman program is looking for more after a season that ended with a 60-46 first-round loss at state to Great Bend.

“19-4 is a great season, and we made it one step further than last year, we made it to the state tournament,” said Alexander the city girls coach of the year.

“But was everybody disappointed in the locker room afterwards? Yes, they were disappointed, and I think they were disappointed because I think they thought there were some things that they had control over that (didn't get done).”

As the sting of the state tournament loss wears off, Seaman's players begin thinking about next season and what could be in the store for the Vikings.

Seaman had eight underclassmen on its state roster, while another talented underclassman, 6-foot-2 sophomore Jaylynn Evans-Patterson, missed the tourney with an injury.

The Vikings' returning cast includes city player of the year Tatyana Legette and fellow All-City first-teamer Brooke McMillin, while Rachel Heald was a second-team All-City pick. All three players are juniors.

“When we checked in gear we kind of talked about it a little bit and to the girl they were like, ‘We want to be better, what can we do this summer?’”' Alexander said.

Seaman graduates four seniors off this year's team — Mallory Searcy, Jeris Thomas, Delaney Hiegert and Dani Spence — and Alexander said they will be missed.

“Mallory Searcy played 89 out of a possible 92 games over a four-year career, and the only reason she missed three was because she had a turned ankle,” Alexander said. “That's a great accomplishment.

“It was a great class, and they've been very successful. They lost like one game in junior high, they lost no games as freshmen, and they're team players. They took what their role was and they embraced it. That's all you can ask for from a group.”

Alexander has no doubt next year's Seaman team will take the same kind of attitude into the 2014-15 season.

“They're really not satisfied with what happened (at state), and I think that's a good sign, that you're not satisfied with where you were and what happened and you know you can get better,” Alexander said.